On Wednesday we headed over to Warhammer World for a Rogue Trader game (1st Edition 40K). Here’s some snapshots of what happened. Axiom has already posted this more detailed account of the battle.
I went with my 11 year old – he fielded zoats and Eldar renegades, I fielded assorted mercenaries, pirates, scum and alien scum.
Eldar Scouts
The battlefield consisted of rolling hills with a few high vantage points like the tower above. We were facing off against 20 squats on the left, tactical marines and a squad of Terminators in the centre and Devastators on the right. On our side the Eldar and zoats were on the left, Axiom’s scum advanced in the centre and I took the right flank.
Panoramic view mid-game
Here’s a view of the whole field. The forces deployed along the long edges of a 4’x6′ field. In the centre was a wrecked Baneblade. The objective was to have more models (measured by total Wounds), on the base than the other side.
Eldar renegades and Zoats
The Zoats rush in ahead, relying on Move 7 and Toughness 5 to get to close quarters. We were facing a force with quite a few long range heavy weapons, so we needed to either get in quickly, or use the most of the cover.
Mercenaries move up behind cover
This area of the battlefield was overlooked by a marine Devastator squad so these mercenaries are cautiously moving up and staying in hard cover. This is the first incarnation of the mercenary squad (they were wiped out and came back). The first missile launcher, although packing melta and haywire missiles, failed to do anything due to a combination of deviation and failed to-hit rolls. I suspect he was expelled from the marines for his inability to shoot straight.
Devastators on a vantage point
Marines rushed forward to the objective in the middle, while the Devastators stayed where they were and rained fire on our advance.
Converted Squats looking very business like and military
The Imperials got off to a good start, pouring marines on to the objective and winning the first two turns.
Scum charge the objective
The squats weren’t faring so well, a zoat got into close combat in spite of being wounded, and the zoat with the multi melta managed to land its massive 2″ radius template on a group of them.
Zoat reinforcements arrive
With things starting to look a bit desperate for the looters, zoat reinforcements arrived. Feeling the need to salvage the situation, the Eldar leader (shown above in the pink with the power sword), starts to work his way forward.
Captain Benson and his sidekick Hodges cower tactically
Things were even worse on my flank. The Heavy Stubber was cut down without firing a shot (I had foolishly forgotten to hide him when he moved to the edge of the building to get into a firing position). The rest of the pirates are hiding in the ruins on top of the help. Captain Benson (in the chequered headscarf) had a lucky escape from a heavy weapon hit when his conversion field absorbed the blast. The callous captain had neglected to warn his squad about the possibility of blinding flashes, and none of them were wearing eye protection. Fortunately none of them failed their saves. The only bit of success was Frank the Slann (none of the pirates can pronounce his real name), creeping to the edge of the building and picking off a marine with a lucky shot from his lasgun. (That’s BS2, so a 6 followed by a 4+ to hit a target in hard cover, followed by 4+ to wound and then not saving on a 5+ for a total of a 1 in 36 chance of a kill). He was swiftly cut down by the return fire but he had done his bit.
Pirates prepare to repel boarders
The terminators began to advance up the hill towards the pirates, using their bio-scanner to spot them and pick them off. The captain pulled out his shuriken pistol, and with very good odds (hit on 2+, wound on 3+, following fire) loosed a hail of shuriken into them. The first one went down but a 1 put an unfortunate stop to it. In the following turn the pirates went down in a hail of fire, except for a blue faced alien called Vlad, who lurked at the back.
Vlad waits in ambush
The terminators pressed on up the hill, facing the new threat of chaos squats with jump packs who had just arrived on table. At this point Vlad, who I had just realised had a melta-gun, popped out and roasted a Terminator at point blank range. He survived the next turn (I can’t remember how), and then took out the last remaining Terminator with another blast.
Fortunes had really turned on this flank. The mercenary with power armour and missile launcher (in his second incarnation) finally managed to land haywire on the two missile launcher devastators. It didn’t hurt them, but it did put every item of their equipment out of action, taking them out of the fight. The following turn he hit again and did the same to the las cannon marine (everything of Tech Level 1 and above stopped working).
Latecomers arrive
Two substantial new forces made their way on to the field at this point. Some Eldar led by Matt and a large force of Imperial Guard (original metal range) belonging to Curis. You can just see the remains of the Eldar and a red-robed cultist claiming the objective in the second-to-last turn. In the final turn the Imperial Guard swarmed forward to help claim a narrow Imperial victory.
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